The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-241079 filed on Aug. 9, 2000, the contents thereof is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remaining distance meter and particularly to a remaining distance meter for easily assuring intuitive recognition of the remaining distance through the display of remaining distance using a bar graph.
2. Description of Background Art
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of apparatus for vehicle road navigation for offering visual information to guide the vehicle to a destination. This navigation apparatus may be classified into a map display type for displaying a road map on the display panel such as a liquid crystal panel and offering vehicle guidance information such as the present position of the vehicle and the vehicle running direction on the road map or may be classified as a map non-display type for offering vehicle guidance information without the use of the road map.
For example, JP-A No. HEI 10-141980 as set forth in the Japanese Official Gazette discloses a technique according to the map non-display type navigation apparatus. In this prior art, when the destination is set, the linear distance up to the destination from the current position and the vehicle guidance information such as arrow marks to indicate the direction of the destination are displayed on the display area provided at the center area of the handle of the vehicle such as a motorcycle.
In the navigation apparatus explained above, the distance up to the destination from the present position is displayed with a practical value. Therefore, when a driver tries to determine, while he/she is driving a vehicle, whether the vehicle is coming close to or becoming far from the destination, the driver is requested to remember the remaining distance A at the present position, then compare the remaining distance A after the running for a while with the remaining distance B displayed at present to subtract the distance B from the distance A through the comparison thereof. Therefore, such navigation apparatus has a problem wherein it is difficult to visually and intuitively determine whether the vehicle is coming close to or going farther away from the destination or how close the vehicle is or how far the vehicle is from the destination.
The present invention has been proposed considering the prior art explained above and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a remaining distance meter which easily provides the remaining distance up to the destination from the current position and moreover intuitively and visually recognizes whether the vehicle is coming close to or farther from the destination.
In order to achieve the purpose explained above, the present invention discloses a remaining distance meter of the navigation system for calculating and displaying the distance between the destination and the current position from the coordinates thereof. This remaining distance meter of the present invention has a first characteristic that a display unit is provided to realize a graphic display which expands and compresses depending on the remaining distance. According to this first characteristic, the distance up to the destination can be obtained any time as required when the vehicle is running and the distance obtained is displayed with expansion and compression of the graphic display and therefore a driver can visually and intuitively recognize such distance.
Moreover, the present invention has a second characteristic that a remaining distance setting button is further provided, when this remaining distance setting button is set, the display unit displays the remaining distance from the reference point preset as the starting point and thereafter the graphic display is expanded or compressed depending on an increase or decrease in the remaining distance. According to this characteristic, the remaining distance when the remaining distance setting button is set is displayed as the expanded display image to display the remaining distance from the current position defined as the starting point when the remaining distance setting button is set. Therefore, a degree of increase and decrease of the remaining distance can be recognized intuitively in detail.
Moreover, the present invention has a third characteristic that when the remaining distance setting button is set, the mark display for recording the remaining distance at that timing is added to such graphic display. According to this characteristic, an increase or decrease of the remaining distance from the timing when the remaining distance setting button is set can be recognized visually and intuitively, in addition to the display of the remaining distance for the initial remaining distance as a whole at the time when the vehicle has started operating.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.